Sadly there is no book about Queen available like the "Beatles Recording Sessions".

So maybe some people here know details about certain tracks. And I'd like to start with "Cool Cat" - The David Bowie Version.

On most boots it plays much too fast, but once corrected it's basically the same recording as the album version. The album version is shorter and has less echo - and of course no Bowie....

My questions: What was the idea behind this collaboration? Was it supposed to be the B-Side for "Under Pressure"? Was the album version of "Cool Cat" already there, when Bowie came in - and just did some overdubs? Is the enormous echo on the Bowie version correct or was it added by some "bootlegger" to maybe disguise some of the dropouts on the source-tape (or whatever)?

The version of the track is included in some early test pressings for the US LP, so it was really considered for inclusion in it. As reported by the OIQFC back then, David Bowie asked his parts to be removed of the final version.

I always liked this song for one reason, and that's the voice of freddie....One of the best vocal tracks from him, though I could understand some Queen fans might not dig it. having bowie in this song wouldn't have worked. Hopefully one day we'll hear it on the anthologies.

The Bowie-version has always sounded fabricated to me, like some stray words he was uttering into the microphone during the recording sessions were later mixed in. Is it an absolute certainty he was actually "singing" along with the track?